


Creation Day

by noiproksa



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Culture & Customs (Supernatural), Banter, Canon Compliant, Family Feels, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Self-Made Family, Team Free Will (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-13 16:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19254475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noiproksa/pseuds/noiproksa
Summary: Angels are such a weird species, but Dean is prepared to look past all that if it means making Cas feel comfortable.So when Sam finds a book entitled ‘Angel Customs and Rituals,’ Dean’s curiosity is piqued.(Intended as gen, but can be read as Destiel pre-slash.)





	1. Chapter 1

Sam was the one to find it while they were doing inventory of all the books in the library.

Cas had had the right idea making himself scarce, mumbling something about wing grooming (which—yeah, right. Dean had never seen him do that before and he wasn’t even sure if angels did that while in human vessels; his lies were so transparent). Dean, unfortunately, having no wings of his own, had not come up with an excuse fast enough and so he had gotten the task to jot down the titles of the books according to Sam’s new filing system.

“‘Angel Customs and Rituals’ by Baliger Strickert,” Sam read and then paused, but instead of putting the book back onto the shelf like all the others, he opened it.

“Huh,” he said. “This could be interesting.”

And he had the audacity to start _reading_ , while all Dean wanted to do was get through the rest of the shelf quickly so that they could take a lunch break. If they got lucky, an emergency would come up—an apocalypse or something that needed taking care of immediately and would keep them from finishing the rest of the library.

“We’ve been roomies with an angel for years now,” Dean pointed out, twirling the pen in his fingers. “What could a book about angel customs possibly tell us that we don’t already know?”

“Quite a few things, apparently,” Sam mumbled, his eyes never leaving the pages as he sat down next to Dean. “For example, did you know that if angels want to show that they care about each other, instead of hugging, they step on each other’s feet?”

“That’s crazy,” Dean declared. “Cas has never once stepped on my foot.”

Sam finally looked up from the book and raised his eyebrows at him. “ _That’s_ the part that’s crazy?”

“Well, also the foot-stepping, of course.—Wait, has he stepped on _your_ foot?”

Sam rolled his eyes and then buried his face in the book again. A moment later, he furrowed his brows, probably trying to make sense of what he was reading, and then filled Dean in on what he had found out, “Apparently, it has something to do with expressing that the angel doesn’t want his companion to fly away, instead grounding them…”

Dean shook his head. “Angels are so weird, man!”

Sam didn’t comment on that statement one way or the other, instead turning the page.

“Check if it says anything about wing grooming,” Dean instructed him. He would so get back at Cas for leaving him alone getting bored to death in the library if he had just made that shit up.

Instead of helping Dean expose Cas’ bullshit excuse, Sam turned a few more pages, skimming over them, and then asked, “Has he ever mentioned ‘Creation Day’ to you?”

When Dean just looked at him, eyebrows raised and waiting for him to continue, Sam explained, “Apparently, it’s this huge celebration up in Heaven when angels come together to celebrate the day God created the Earth.”

Dean snorted. “Bunch of nerds.”

“How do you get from ‘Creation Day’ to ‘nerds’?” Sam asked, shooting him a bitchface. “How is that better or worse than Christmas? Or _any_ other human holiday?”

Dean inclined his head, having to admit that Sam was right. As strange as angels’ customs might seem, Cas had to think the same about human traditions.

“Hey, it’s only a few weeks away,” Sam continued, checking the book. “Wouldn’t it be great if we planned a Creation Day celebration for him?”

Dean thought back to when Cas had celebrated Thanksgiving with them without blinking an eye. (Well, he _had_ asked some questions that had made it clear how strange the whole shebang had seemed to him, but still.) They could do this for him.

“What kind of food is customary for Creation Day?” he asked the most important question.

Sam shot him a meaningful look. “Angels don’t eat.”

“Seriously? A ‘huge celebration’ without any food? Are you kidding me?! Thanksgiving is already so much more awesome without even trying,” Dean grumbled.

“Okay, let’s make a list,” Sam decided, taking the pen away from Dean and putting the book down on the table so that he could note down some bullet points on a piece of paper. “First, they look down on Earth from up above, ‘marveling at the sights of God’s creation,’ so we should find some kind of mountain…”

***

They had found a way to make most of the angel customs for Creation Day work with their human limitations. Dean was pretty sure Cas would like the fireworks that were supposed to symbolize the ‘lightshow’ angels put on to remember the creation of light.

As Creation Day drew nearer, Dean began to think that he and Sam were more excited about it than Cas, who didn’t let anything on. Who had, in fact, indulged them and their holidays on multiple occasions, and yet had somehow forgotten to mention that angels had their own Heavenly holiday, which, if Dean was honest with himself, he was a bit miffed about.

He had taken a look at ‘Angel Customs and Rituals’ himself and there were actually a few things Cas had neglected to mention. What irked Dean the most was that Cas hadn’t ever felt comfortable angel-hugging him… aka stepping on his foot, which, okay, weird—but if that was how Cas’ species expressed affection, who was Dean to judge? At least they didn’t sniff each other’s butts, so there was that.

Maybe Cas had kept these angel rituals to himself because early on, Dean had let him know when he had done anything ‘weird’ by human standards, like standing too close or watching humans sleep.

So, Dean decided to take it upon himself to show Cas that he could share these things with them. Decision made, he made his way to Cas’ room and found him flipping through magazines Sam had lent him.

“Hello, Dean.” Cas closed the magazine he had leafed through and put it on the nightstand before looking up at Dean expectantly.

Dean’s gaze drifted to Cas’ feet and a new problem presented itself.

“Mind taking off your shoes?” he asked without preamble.

Cas got up and did so without missing a beat, and realizing that he himself was wearing shoes, Dean quickly followed suit, kicking his shoes away so that they weren’t in the way. He realized too late that he was wearing his geeky Scooby-Doo socks, but a second later, he remembered that Cas didn’t care about these things one way or another. The angel most likely wouldn’t even know that this was something funny he could tell Sam.

Cas was tilting his head, patiently waiting for Dean to take charge, and Dean took a deep breath, thinking, _Here goes nothing_ , as he carefully stepped on Cas’ foot, making sure not to put his whole weight behind it and looking out for Cas’ reaction in order to make sure that he did this weird-ass angel custom right.

The small, shy smile that spread across Cas’ face told him that he did. Satisfied with his foot-stepping skills, Dean took a step back and Cas returned the gesture, just as hesitant and careful as Dean had been. He barely put any weight on his foot, and Dean wondered if that was how angels did it or if he was just being careful with the human in order not to crush his foot.

Once Cas was done, Dean returned the smile brightly. He totally had this angel ritual down. Mission accomplished.

Next stop: Creation Day. Dean couldn’t wait to see the look on Cas’ face when he realized that they were throwing a surprise Creation Day celebration for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Creation Day arrived and under the guise of hunting a mountain monster, they drove up the mountain as high as they could and then hiked the rest of the way to the spot Sam had deemed worthy enough for an angel, giving them a great view of the landscape below.

When Sam took out the blanket from his backpack and carefully spread it out, Cas observed them, eyes narrowed. Dean was taking out the pie because there was no way Dean was going to let an opportunity for pie go by. Just because they did this for Cas, didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy some pie in the meantime.

“We have not yet found the mountain monster,” Cas stated, looking down at Sam and Dean getting comfortable on the blanket.

“There is no mountain monster,” Sam explained as he was motioning Cas to sit down with them.

Dean couldn’t hold in the grin any longer. “Surprise! Happy Creation Day.”

“Oh.” Cas looked stunned as he sat down on the blanket, too, but a smile was already working its way onto his face, and Dean exchanged a triumphant look with Sam. The surprise part had worked.

“I was unaware humans celebrate Creation Day,” Cas continued.

“Yeah, well, _these_ humans do,” Dean said, waggling his eyebrows.

It was actually nice, taking a day for themselves, no monster to hunt, enjoying the view and the pie and chatting about idle things.

When the pie was finished (Dean had even convinced Cas to taste the molecules), Dean started with the next step of their program: telling each other what they liked most about God’s creation.

“What I like best about God’s creation is cars,” he declared, thinking of Baby.

“That’s a human invention,” Sam promptly retorted.

“But God provided us with the materials we needed to invent them.”

Sam shook his head, clearly not approving of his chosen favorite creation. “You’re an idiot.”

Cas was following their verbal exchange with a tilted head.

“What about you, Cas?” Sam turned to him. When Cas tilted his head further, he clarified, “What is your favorite creation on Earth?”

Cas looked out towards the beautiful landscape below and when he looked back at them, his eyes flitting from Sam to Dean, he said, “Humans.”

“Oh, that’s a good one. I change mine to that, too,” Dean decided, pointing a finger at Cas and earning himself an eye-roll from Sam.

“And bees,” Cas added after a moment of contemplation.

Dean huffed out a laugh. “As long as we’re on the same level as bees.”

Cas didn’t pay him any mind and instead continued, “Lately, I feel companionship with South Island giant moa…”

“Who wouldn’t,” Dean threw in.

“Or moa in general, really. Such a shame they are extinct. They must have felt like outcasts among birds. Did you know they were the only wingless birds to ever roam the Earth? Nevertheless, they were very happy species. Mischievous at times.” He paused in his musings and then declared, “It is very hard to choose only one species.”

He looked at Dean reproachfully as if it was all his fault for making him choose by starting this game, so Dean quickly distracted him by asking Sam, “So, what’s _your_ favorite creation?”

Sam was smiling softly and looked at Cas. “I think I’m going to go with angels.”

“Oh, now I want to change mine to _that_ ,” Dean agreed. Cas was definitely his favorite creation.

“Stop piggybacking on other people’s ideas,” Sam warned, but a grin was tugging at his lips.

Cas, meanwhile, was furrowing his brows, studying Dean closely. “You hate angels,” he pointed out. “You call them ‘dicks with wings.’”

“Not _angels_ then,” Dean amended, “but one angel in particular.”

He half expected Cas to not get it and ask who the angel was, but then a faint pink blush colored his cheeks and Dean knew the message had come across.

“I did not know we were allowed to choose individuals,” Cas said. “In that case, can I choose the both of you?”

A warm feeling spread inside of Dean at those words and he quickly played it down by shrugging and pointing out, “Hey, you’re the one who makes up the rules.”

Narrowing his eyes, Cas asked, “Why do I make up the rules? It was your idea.”

“Yeah, but Creation Day is an angel holiday, so you’re the expert here.”

“But the game was your idea,” Cas reiterated. “Up in Heaven, we just marvel at the sights of our Father’s creation on Creation Day. Ever since I have been on Earth, every day is Creation Day for me.”

Dean looked at Sam at a loss, who seemed as stumped as him. “What about the huge lightshow you guys put on?” Sam asked.

“What lightshow?”

“You know, to reenact the whole ‘Let there be light’ spiel?” Dean tried to jog his memory.

At this point, Cas’ eyes were narrowed to slits and Dean began to suspect that the book had not been as accurate as they had thought.

Sam, who had probably thought along similar lines, was rummaging around his backpack and took out the book by Baliger Strickert, showing it to Cas. “It says so right here.” He leaned over to show him the passage.

Cas took the book from him, skimmed the part Sam had indicated, then flipped through the rest of the book, occasionally pausing to read a section, and shook his head.

“This is highly exaggerated,” he finally stated, handing the book back to Sam.

“Good thing that we haven’t tried the angelic morning routine yet that is described in here,” Sam joked, tapping the book before putting it back into his backpack.

Dean had actually been the reason for why they hadn’t done that yet. Getting up at the butt crack of dawn to loud trumpet music had not been his idea of a fun start to the day.

“Wait,” Dean remembered. “What about stepping on other angels’ feet? You did that with me.”

Cas blinked at him. Then blinked again in his usual fashion when he was trying to make sense of human actions.

“I thought that was a _human_ custom,” he finally said.

Dean gaped at him. “Dude, you’ve lived with us for _years_. In all that time, have I ever stepped on your foot?”

Cas seemed to consider this for a moment before replying, “Not on purpose.”

Dean saw Sam smirk out of the corner of his eyes and groaned. “Are you ever going to let me live that down? I _stumbled_. It was dark. It was slippery. That snail monster had left its goo _every_ where. Jeez.”

“I thought you were showing me a human way to express affection,” Cas explained.

“Why would humans purposefully step on each other’s feet?”

“Why would humans shake each other’s hands as a greeting?” Cas countered. “There are many human customs that are highly confusing. I learned to ‘roll with it’ whenever you show me something new. I thought this was something new you wanted to show me.”

Before Dean could say anything to that, Sam burst out laughing next to them.

Dean shot him a glare. “Is this amusing to you?”

“Kinda,” Sam wheezed as he clearly tried to get his laughing fit under control. “I’m imagining the two of you standing on each other’s feet, trying so hard to be accepting of the other’s culture…” He dissolved into laughter again.

“Yeah? Keep talking and I’ll step on _your_ foot,” Dean grumbled.

“Don’t worry, Sam,” Cas was quick to reassure him. “He has a very gentle foot-stepping technique when he does it on purpose.”

This only made Sam laugh harder, wiping at his eyes.

Dean elbowed his brother in the ribs in retaliation, but since laughter was contagious and Sam had a point—it _was_ kind of funny when he thought about it—he couldn’t help but laugh along, especially when he saw how happy Cas looked, smiling at both of them, his eyes crinkling before he joined in.

Once their laughter subsided, Cas’ smile relaxed into something softer, gentler.

“Thank you,” he said, his eyes filled with gratitude and affection.

Dean was about to wave him off, telling him that it was nothing, really, when Cas added, “In all the millennia—this was the best Creation Day I have ever had.”

“Yeah, well, y’know…” Dean mumbled, trailing off, not quite sure what to say to that.

Luckily, Sam had him covered and put into words what Dean had tried to say. “It was our pleasure. Besides, you’re doing nice things for us all the time.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Least we could do.”

Dean nodded his agreement. Creation Day might not be as big a deal up in Heaven as the book had led them to believe, but they did have a lot of fun today. So, maybe it could become their own personal holiday.

He sat back, looking from his friends to the view below. Team Free Will celebrating a day mixing human and angelic culture? Yeah, that sounded about right.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a prompt, but does not quite fill it, so I might come back to a similar (yet different) scenario.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos fill my writer’s heart with glee. <3
> 
> The posting dates for two bangs I took part in are drawing nearer: “Healing an Angel” (July 12th) and “Angel Cuddles” (July 24th).
> 
>   ☆ Here is the promo post for **[Healing and Angel](https://deancasminibang.tumblr.com/post/185362756004/coming-july-12th-2019)** (11.8k, _Cas has been captured by shapeshifters who have been torturing him for weeks. The aftermath is not pretty, but Dean will do anything to get his angel through this and get him to trust them again. To make matters worse, the mastermind behind Cas’ capture is still alive. Will they be able to keep him from coming after Cas again?_ )
> 
>   ☆ And the promo post for **[Angel Cuddles](https://spncanonbigbang.tumblr.com/day/2019/06/13/)** (5.5k, _Angels need a lot of physical contact, especially when in a human vessel. - Dean is determined to give Cas the ‘physical contact’ he requires. Cas is more than suspicious when suddenly, Dean starts touching him more and more._ )  
> This one is actually a sequel to [Four’s a Crowd](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18451286), but can be read separately.  
>  
> 
> I’m also currently working on a fic for the DeanCas BigBang and planned a fic focusing on their platonic bond (gen), but I have an idea for a Destiel slash storyline that would work for this fic as well, so, what do you think? Would you be interested in reading a Destiel fic for the DeanCas BigBang or would you prefer if I kept it gen?


End file.
